Congratulations to Ms. Lee Cornell, teacher of Technology, Filmmaking, and Discovering Cultures and Languages at Victory Middle School in the West Ada School District, Meridian, ID. Ms. Cornell has been awarded a $500 scholarship to attend the Northwest Council for Computer Education to be held in Seattle, WA, Feb 14-16, 2018. The award was presented by Brenda Miller, NWPE regional director.

Congratulations to award-winning NWPE member Jason George (Presidential Award Winner in Science Education for 2016). Mr. George who is a longtime NWPE member and advocate for teacher professionalism contributed to the state’s effort to update Idaho’s science learning standards. He also recently led his students from Vision Charter School in Caldwell, ID, to a number of awards at the Idaho Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). The awards include an all-expense paid trip to the International Science Fair in Los Angeles for Mr. George and the team consisting of T.J. Herndon, Brooklyn Legg, and Luke Campbell who won first place overall competing in the category of Engineering, specifically in the area of high efficiency rocket nozzles. They won the Airforce Engineering Award, Gold in Category, Best in Category, and Best in Fair.

Congratulations to Kris Daratha, NWPE member and winner of a $500 NWPE grant to supplement Waterville High School's science program. With the help of a STEM grant last year, he and his students entered a national competition for design and implementation of solar heated sidewalks. They were able to create a prototype and three solar panels. The NWPE grant will help them improve the prototype and unleash five portable, heated sidewalks around Waterville, WA, in order to keep the community safe during harsh winters. Mr. Daratha’s project is reusable, will continue year after year, and is a great way students will experience how STEM can better their community.

NWPE’s Jeff Wehr and his students have had another amazing year! Mr. Wehr, Advanced STEM Research and Education teacher at Odessa High School in Washington state, was honored to be selected as the 2016 Teacher of the Year for the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair. He was also selected as the 2016 Teacher of the Year for the Washington Science Teachers Association. Additionally, he was selected by the Society for Science and the Public to be a guest panelist for STEM research in education, an event which was held in Washington, DC, on October 1st. As if that was not enough, Mr. Wehr was recently awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) by President Obama. The National Science Foundation flew Mr. Wehr and his wife Julie (also an NWPE member) to Washington DC for an incredible week filled with an awards banquet, awards ceremony, and visitation to the White House and Capitol Hill.

NWPE member and Salmon River Middle School science teacher Sarah Walters took her students to the dump and the Riggins sewage treatment facility in order to prompt their interest in science and engineering. That led to a collaborative effort and entry into the Future City Competition. Ms. Walters noted that it was a full staff effort. “I headed up the project but owe the success of the project to the whole staff at Salmon River Middle School. We decided this year to make Future City a collaborative project. The Math teacher taught about scale, the history teachers taught about the city basics and what makes a city successful, the English teachers helped write the essays, the shop teacher helped build the models, and in science, we designed our engineering plans, researched waste management methods, took field trips to study how our city's waste is managed and put together our presentation. It took not just a team of students but the staff also worked as a team.”

Congratulations to NWPE member and Invent Idaho co-founder Beth Brubaker of Hayden, Idaho. After 26 years, the Invent Idaho competition has expanded from grades 1-8 with this year being the first to be open to high school students. Beth shares in the Coeur d'Alene Press article "Imagine, ignite, innovate " why Invent Idaho is such an important event for Idaho’s youngsters.
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EdTech isn’t just producing awesome results - it’s also taking hold of our education system in a big way. And in 2015, teachers can expect to see tons of new EdTech trends in the works that are revolutionizing the way of education. These technological innovations are helping teachers:

Back in 2005, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy teacher Jean Robinson and a trio of students from across the United States and Mexico had the opportunity to work with Dr. Kobie Boykins, a mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, and NASA's current spokesman for the Space Program. They were selected through National Geographic's JASON Project which takes a team of teachers and students somewhere in the world to work with research scientists.

Jeff Wehr, NWPE member and award winning science teacher at Odessa High School in Washington state, recently reported on some remarkable research achievements by students in the school's Advanced STEM Research (ASR) Laboratory. Described in a feature article by ESD 101 as “an inquiry based study program that allows students to conduct independent study in any scientific discipline,” ASR is a concept which Wehr brought to Washington from his former teaching position in Montana.

I recently learned that NWPE member and Troy High School chemistry teacher Bill McFall and the Troy High School Agriculture Science and Technology (AST) program had received honors for their work on an innovative program called “From Field to Classroom – A Reduction in Fossil Fuel Usage with Creation of BioFuel.”

Congratulations to NWPE members Darlene Frates and Beth Brubaker at North Idaho STEM Charter Academy who led their students to capture seven of 11 awards at the Idaho TECH Mars Rover Challenge held at the University of Idaho on May 2! Student teams from grades 4-6 competed in the science and engineering design competition by building a Mars Rover using a LEGO kit provided by the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Consortium sponsored the event. Each rover went through a number of design challenges including: Hill climb, blind driving, speed test and rock collection. The 27 student teams also gave presentations explaining their design process.

Congratulations to NWPE member Jean Robinson, Earth Science teacher at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, and her middle school ExploraVision team! Jean led her middle school students to win the Region 6 competition of the 2014 Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision program, the world's largest K-12 science competition. The students' project could lead to a potential scientific and medical breakthrough for the treatment of migraine headaches.

Congratulations to NWPE member Jeffrey Wehr and his Advanced STEM Research Laboratory students at Odessa High School, Odessa, WA! They continue to win prestigious awards for their exciting and promising research!

Congratulations to North Idaho STEM Charter Academy founders and NWPE members, Scott and Colleen Thomson, whose school has been approved to expand from K-8 to high school grades. A grand prize winner of the ID21 Award, the school received a $50,000 grant for its innovative learning style by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation. The school is featured in this winner’s video.

Congratulations to Mrs. Colleen Thomson, Director of Instruction at North Idaho STEM Charter Academy, and the school team of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade teachers, who have been awarded a $250 classroom grant from Northwest Professional Educators (NWPE). The grant will be used to take 4th, 5th & 6th grade students to compete in the Idaho Tech: NASA Space Consortium Mars Rover Competition at the University of Idaho on April 26th.